Memory
by aya-kun
Summary: Schneizel recalls that day...


Author's Note: How this scene came to be, what happened previously, when this would have been happening…I do not know. It just came to me and I just wanted to write it. I leave it up to you, dear readers, to use your imagination and to please bear with me.

A Code Geass Ficlet

Memory

"I'm a mistake." Suzaku, bleeding on the floor, flinched. He felt he'd been slapped. Even though Lelouch was away from him as he lay there, his back to the wall.

"You were right. But was it wrong? Was it too much to ask for?"

Lelouch was met with silence. No one really could answer since no one even knew what he was asking. His once fiery eyes were simply empty purple depths now. Nothingness. He stood there, a gun clutched loosely on his right hand, forehead dripping with blood. Zero, no, Lelouch was no longer there even as his body stood motionless except for his soft breathing. He wasn't even dressed as Zero anymore. Those clothes had been torn and burned. He'd dressed himself in civilian clothing, a far cry from the robes he'd worn as a child and from the clothing he wore as Zero.

Schneizel was beginning to feel a bit of fear at the emptiness in his brother's eyes. Something apart from this emptiness was happening to Lelouch but he didn't know what. Looking to his right, he saw the small one, V.V. he called himself, looking at Lelouch curiously.

"I only wanted one moment," Lelouch continued.

The silence dragged on. "One moment of what?" Schneizel finally asked. V.V. had stepped closer to Lelouch.

"Nunally's happiness," his brother answered, purple eyes only momentarily coming to life. "It was too much wasn't it? Yes, too much to hope for, too much to seek. Maybe…maybe because all the while I had been thinking that maybe I could it too. I wanted to share it with her. Maybe if I wasn't born, Nunally would be happy. She wouldn't have seen any of this. She would have remained content, seeing, standing, being happy. But it's useless now. They're gone."

The plural didn't escape Schneizel. Even as the truth of his sister's end was confirmed to him by Lelouch's words and clear mourning. "They?"

"They're both gone. Promises really aren't meant to be kept." It wasn't a question but a statement, said in the most matter-of-fact tone. It was unnerving; his brother was just standing there, no life at all now, not even the anger that must have ruled his life since Marianne's death. "They're gone," he repeated.

V.V. spoke. "She can't be gone." Schneizel could see him frowning, a ghost of an emotion passing over his face before the blank mask was restored.

"She is. Even if it's her…" Lelouch had turned away from them and moved closer to the room's edge, ignoring the still falling bits of the wall that once been there. He watched in silence as the fighting before them continued.

A sudden movement brought Schneizel's gaze to the side, where the double doors lay brokenly open.

Lelouch looked over his shoulder; eyes becoming even bleak if that were possible. The emptiness was growing. "Father?"

"No," Cornelia whispered. She was watching him as she clutched her sides. She wasn't even healed yet; blood was continuing to seep into her bandages, her cloak the only thing warming her upper body. "Where's Nunally?"

Pain. Finally, an emotion though only a ghost of what it could have been, had replaced the emptiness. Lelouch eyes had become glassy. He turned away, walked closer to the edge.

"She's dead." V.V. answered for him as he stepped closer. "Suzaku killed you but instead, he killed Nunally –a price she gave to let you live."

"I…I killed…Nunally?" Suzaku shook his head. "No," he moaned; more blood was flowing from him now.

"I'm a mistake. Suzaku was right. I shouldn't have been born. If I wasn't born she'd still be alive, wouldn't she?" Lelouch asked them, imploring them, begging for an answer. They had none. A sigh, and then the emptiness surrounded him once more. "Useless," he whispered.

He turned and faced them. "V.V., why was mother killed?"

For a moment, V.V. didn't answer, and then, when Schneizel thought he wouldn't, he spoke. "She became too unpredictable and thus was no longer needed." The words slowly sunk into the royals' minds. "She needed to die."

Words, no one thought they'd ever hear. Lelouch let a sigh, a tired and world weary sigh. "Next to mother…who was next to mother?"

"Nunally."

All but Lelouch gasped their surprise. Only resignation was seen before his face become blank again. "But she became imperfect. She became useless."

"Yes," V.V. answered, even though his words weren't a question.

"So, I was next."

"Next for what?" Cornelia interrupted. Schneizel was barely able to restrain himself from asking the same.

"Out of all the royal family, Marianne and her children were the best candidates." V.V. evaded. His eyes suddenly becoming fascinated as he looked to Lelouch. "You were perfect."

"No, I wasn't." Lelouch shook his head, but an eerie smile graced his features. "But, I was the perfect tool."

"Yes, the perfect catalyst for destruction." He smiled –it was cruel, making Schneizel's skin crawl. "You were even made better when you made the contract with C.C."

"Geass," Suzaku said, pushing himself up; blood leaving a trail of his progress. He was still shaking. "Lelouch, why did you…kill…Euphie? What…happened…when you…met her?" he was struggling to speak. But he had to ask, to know.

Lelouch, head titled but with eyes starting to widen, to wake answered. "I killed her. I chose to."

"You didn't have a choice." V.V. taunted, "You never had one. The Geass advanced. Didn't it? Didn't it?"

"I did. I killed her!" Lelouch shouted. And then he grew confused. "I made that choice. I did that."

"You didn't."

"I did." He voice was growing desperate. Why? Did his admitting he killed Euphie mean something? Schneizel was already barely able to restrain himself from hitting Lelouch. How could want to have killed his sister?

"My choice…it was my choice."

"You were going to say yes to her proposal."

"I did. I did say yes." Lelouch's voice was small now; his face growing with desperate anger and confusion with each word.

"Then why?" Suzaku asked. "Why did you use her?"

Lelouch frowned and then his face grew in wonder, slumping to his knees he laughed, a derisive laugh. "No choice," he whispered. "He was watching. He knew. Facing V.V. he asked, "How?"

"He didn't need to." V.V. was still taunting him. "He knew, and he saw it. You were his catalyst, he needed Japan's end not it's future."

"So that pain…"

"…was for you to have no choice." Taunting, that's all it was. "You were perfect and he needed you. He placed his anger, his need and his power inside you so it would happen. Japan was the perfect stage for your role."

"Not anymore." Lelouch jumped back. He looked about, he had to find it. This was the throne room and he'd seen the schematics.

"What are you -?" Schneizel cut off. Lelouch had stopped before the broken throne. Lifting a hidden panel, he saw his brother type something onto the hidden keyboard that he too knew about.

The room began shaking, the throne was moving to the side. Lelouch disappeared as he went down he hidden staircase. "Leave," he'd said before going down, the throne seat moving back into place. Schneizel ran to it but it closed firmly.

"He's going to die." V.V. said into the silence, his voice no longer held that taunt mocking tone. "But this time, even I can say it is his choice. He's living."

Those last words echoed in Schneizel's mind. "Living…of course!" He'd remembered, the last time Lelouch had spoken to their father, he'd been watching from afar. _You've never lived._

And as he looked at the throne's raised flooring, he knew with certainty that Lelouch was finally living even as he ran to his death.

Years had passed since then, and he still remembered that day. Japan had been taken again but with the Emperor's death (Lelouch was last seen entering the research chamber his father was in and so he knew what must have happened then) everything changed. The ruling was different, he, Schneizel had declined the throne, his older brother wanting to give it to him, but he knew that the power would tempt him and so left. He knew his brother, docile as he was, peace and compromise was what would reign. He left Japan, left Britannia, left everything as he went all over to proceed to destroy the many gates his father had unearthed.

It was at this last in Japan that he started remembering that day. Looking up, he could only see gray. It was going to storm. Turning away from the crumbling structure as its demolition was put into action, Schneizel stopped. _Impossible._

Out on the beach he could see two people walking down its length. Their strides angled to reach the forest at his right; the forest that was but a small shelter from rain and sun as it lead to the other side of the island.

"He's seen us."

"It doesn't matter."

"Lelouch…"

"It's going to rain. Come on." He reached out a hand, and called out her name, a name only he knew now. "Let's go."

As her gold eyes met the night sky in his, she reached out a hand and they both ran for shelter, her green hair trailing behind her.


End file.
